British Journal of Photography - In the Studio
'Nestled in an old European-style building, on a quiet side street, Katrin Koenning’s expansive first-floor apartment acts as a retreat and workspace. As I walk to meet her on a sunny autumn morning, I wander through the suburb of Prahran, just a couple of miles south of Melbourne’s city centre. Prahran (pronounced ‘Pran’ in the local vernacular) got its name from the Indigenous Boonwurrung word for the local river, and sits a short distance from both the river and the beaches of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay. Prahran occupies an important place in Australia’s photographic history as the location of the famous Prahran Technical College (now closed) which saw students like Carol Jerrems, Susan Fereday and Bill Henson walk through its doors in the 1970s and 80s.
Koenning’s apartment is her creative haven. Multiple pinboards
decorated with test prints, illustrations, newspaper clippings and
collages are hung around her home creating an energy of inspiration and
productivity. A large photobook collection occupies an expansive and
light-filled wall in one room. Another room is devoted to processing and
scanning her negatives, which she still does herself – a mark of how
important process and consistency is to her practice. And, in a
different part of the apartment, in a glass sunroom, rows of tagged and
numbered black-and-white negatives hang from the ceiling in their
dozens. Yet despite all this activity, each zone in Koenning’s apartment
feels ordered, vast and intentional. There is no place for any clutter
or matter out of place.' Text Daniel Boetker-Smith
